Media and entertainment

In the 20th century, mass media became a principal means of communications and its objective was to provide people with as much information as possible on what is going on in the world. In the current 21st century, this role is changing, entailing the need to restrict information streams. Responding to this need, media resources are gradually turning from unique news sources into powerful filters, highlighting important messages and helping one become familiar with the agenda.
Even now, a user can set up a feed to read certain pages, or filter information on social networks using special add-ons. However, the convenience of such settings still leaves much to be desired. In the future, users will be able to create their own information streams and define their editing principles. Media software, such as search engines, information sorters and processors capable of creating customized information packages for users, will provide increasingly greater assistance in the sector. Moreover, computer services will develop for automatic translation, speech recognition, search, extraction, and sorting and processing of data (e.g. transformation of source data into complete news pieces, infographics, or text notes). However, mass media will retain its role, as many users will use standard settings, not wanting to influence what they get.
The notions of information objectivity and expertness will grow blurry, as the number of sources is growing too fast, making it practically impossible to assess their quality. This is why ordinary users will start switching to a more competent use of information. Educational curriculums will even include courses on collecting, interpreting and using data. Articles and books with advice on this topic are already popular, with examples such as Clay Johnson’s The Information Diet. The skill of verifying the quality of information will become part of basic literacy, on a par with reading or simple mathematics. Also, increasingly sophisticated software will be developed for verifying information and checking its sources.
The growing automation of the media sphere will take many journalistic functions from people and entrust them to machines. For example, the Associated Press has already acquired a new robot for writing short texts containing corporate income statements. Professional journalists will continue their work in formats requiring significant creative talents, e.g. independent journalism.
There will be a massive introduction of new technologies for stimulating human perceptive organs (olfaction, tactile sensations, taste, sense of gravity). New information channels will allow media and entertainment to achieve even closer and more real contact with the consumer. These techniques are being developed already. In 2013, a Japanese film theater showed a smell-enhanced presentation of Terrence Malick’s The New World, with scenes of grief and anger accompanied by scents of tea and eucalyptus, joyous events by citrus, and romantic episodes by flowers. 4D technologies (which are more frequently applied in amusement rides than theaters) enable the viewer to feel wind, water sprays, real-life movement, or a change of body position. Neural interfaces immersing the user in a synthetic reality will produce a giant breakthrough.
Games will become a most prominent means of entertainment, from urban quests involving augmented reality to massive events in virtual spaces. A secondary economy will also develop in virtual worlds, influencing the real-world economy. Virtual currencies, weapons, and armour are already for sale for real money, e.g. in games like World of Warcraft or Diablo 3.